1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to the field of traffic provisioning in a data network. More specifically, this invention relates to automating the process of establishing cross-connections.
2. Description of the Related Art
Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) is a high-speed synchronous network specification for optical fiber networks. The provisioning of traffic paths across a network of (SONET) multiplexers usually entails manually finding the route and sufficient bandwidth to fulfill the request. Human intervention is required at each network element to establish the correct cross-connects. Such a process can be tedious, time consuming, and error-prone. It is therefore desirable to provide a system capable of automatically provisioning traffic paths from one network element to another across a network of one or more interconnected network elements.